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Monday, December 9, 2013

happiness.

Today on Facebook I had the opportunity to click on my "Year in Review" and some of the things that popped up included:

Getting a new Keurig (monumental moment people)

Meeting Lauren Conrad

A Wawa opening up in Tampa (it's a Jersey thing...)

Registering for my last semester of graduate school

Some status about coffee (shocker)

Beyond these less significant things, other things popped up such as:

Being an on-site coordinator for the AFLV LeaderShape session at UCLA

Starting my last "first day" of school

Interning at Brandeis University

Running two half marathons

Receiving a scholarship

The last thing on my "Year in Review" was one of the best experiences I've had all year and that was serving as a member of the 2013 Graduate Staff for the Association of Fraternity/Sorority Advisors Annual Meeting.

Essentially through this experience I realized a lot about myself, how I continue to work in a team and more about my future profession. It was an incredible experience.

However, what I have learned this year and through a lot of these other experiences is what makes me happy.

What makes me happy is people, being in the company of really good people and having meaningful relationships with people. These are people who are passionate about what they do, find ways to connect with one another, are generally positive and people I can laugh with. I found this with my grad staff team, my LeaderShape experience, my time in Boston, my cohort, my roommates and more!

Being happy means taking care of myself. I found this through managing training for a half marathon and taking time outside of school and work to connect with friends and to do things on my own too!

Happiness is a cup of coffee in the morning, with a student, with a campus colleague or a new friend

Happiness is giving back to a cause and the community. I've been lucky enough to do this this year more, especially for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Happiness is family.

Happiness is loving yourself and being your true self through that process.

While this may be repetitive of my thankful post on Thanksgiving, I truly cannot show enough gratitude to all the people in my life who have, made this one of the happiest years and best years.

Dave Matthews Band said it best with his song "Best of What's Around":